One Day Headstart
by Nuppu
Summary: James Norrington isn't a stupid man. He notices things. And of what he notices during the adventure we've all seen on screen, he has made a plan to get what he wants. But are our favourite pirates really that predictable? JackWill and a bit JamesElizabeth


**Summary:**  
**Pairing:** small little tiny innocent hints to Jack/Will-pairing, it's hardly there, but, well, as it is even 'hardly there'... oh, let's face it, it's _Jack/Will_ fluffyness AGAIN! Damn me. AND we have some het-stuff too! _Norrington loves Elizabeth_!  
**Warnings:** A bit slashy, but nothing major  
**Disclaimer:** Go check out my bio, I'm just a fan. All you can recognice from the Pirates Of The Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl-movie is, indeed, commandeered from the said masterpiece.**  
Word count (just story):** 1 480  
**A/N: ** Um... how could I explain this... it's... well, it's yet another one-shot-Jack/Will-fluff-thingy... I honestly have NO idea where I get these so called 'plots' from... okay, I've watched the movie too often and had too little sleep, but that's just normal, right? After all, it is the last week of my summer vacation... Anyhow... well, I kind of like this. I hope you do too. Norrington's a nice guy when you get to know him. Such a cute match-maker.

**One Day Headstart**

People in Port Royal had always thought Commodore Norrington was an overparticular and obsessed law-lover, and it therefore was a big surprise when the 'one day headstart' the said Commodore had given to a pirate, became known. The incident awoke lots of rumours, most of them saying the commodore was in fact a bit nicer guy than one would have thought. Some, of course, claimed that he had gone soft because of that miss Swann rejecting him because of some young blacksmith. In spite of the huge amount of different kind of gossip, none of the talk was true. The a bit far-fetched-sounding theory that concisted the idea of also Captain Sparrow being in love with miss Elizabeth Swann was one of the few that came even close to the right answer. Though not very close, but the reason _had_ something to do with _love_ for _Elizabeth_ and also said _pirate captain_ was a part of the reason. Or rather, he was part of _the plan_.

You see, James Norrington wasn't a stupid man. And we _don't _mean that he would be incredibly wise or clever or all-knowing, nothing like that. We mean _social wit_. Being a commondore meant a lot of planning-skill, war-strategies and such, and mr Norrington had long ago noticed that the same strategies he used on the battelfields could also be very usefully applied to social battles. And so, the same way he noticed things in the sea in fights, he noticed things in people. After all, he had done it all his life with ships and situations, why not with the people too? He could usually predict which of his men would be worth a promotion and which of them were really as bad as pirates when it came to moral and obeying the law, even if they all acted and looked the same. He also knew always months before who fancied who and what would become of that. So, he wasn't a stupid man at all, he _noticed_ things.

He had always seen that the young blacksmith, William Turner, didn't quite belong in the smithy. He did make fine swords, yes, but he had always known that there was something very wrong about it. First, he had thought it had something to do with the boy´s clear affection to miss Elizabeth Swann, but after a while even _that_ had started to seem somehow not fitting. Declaring menthally William Turner to be too complicated to understand, the commondore developed a wall of ignorance to the boys odd wrongness and stopped thinking about it. After all, he did have more important things to worry about than a blacksmith who didn't fit into a smithy. How ever, the sudden pirate-attac in Port Royal a few years after leaded our dear Commodore to the right tracks anyway. The kidnap of miss Swann and the adventure it caused revealed a lot more of the orphan blacksmith. For instance, that he had pirate-blood in his veins.

During the adventure Commodore Norrington noticed also something else, something that made the hope that had been lost for years return to him. And hthe hope was? Well, being so gifted in _noticing things_ about people, he had, of course, also seen miss Elizabeths love for William long before it had become as painfully obvious as it was now. Eventhough he had been quite sure of being rejected, he had proposed anyway, as he didn't have anything to loose in the matter and there was also the fact that hope never really dies in the heart of a man in love. Yet now that the blacksmith-pirate had even risked his life to save her, Norrington was sure that the game was over for him. But during the few days on the Dauntless, his hope came back – in the form of a certain pirate.

And that was how Jack Sparrow had something to do with the 'one day headstart' the Commodore had given him. He was an important part of the most important strategy Norrington had ever had to plan. The fact that true he to use a pirate to get to his goal was a bit uncomfortable for the Commodore and it didn't ease him at all that the said pirate was Jack Sparrow. He hated unpredictable parts in his plans.

Commodore James Norrington was worrying for nothing though, for his plan was already on and working like a dream. While our favourite Commodore putted his candles out and went to bed, the mentioned unpredictable pirate captain was rowing to the harbour of Port Royal, just as he had predicted, and the blacksmith-who-didnät-belong-in-smithy was sitting on a quay, waiting, just as he had thought he would. It was a late night, certainly Sparrow wouldn't risk being captured right away again in the same port, and all decent people were in bed. The streets and docks were empty and the only sound was the sea washing the sand. A small wind had blowed all the night clowds away and the moonlight silver-plated the scene. The pirate captain tied his small row-boat up and climbed to the quay.

"A pretty night, eh, mate?" the captain asked, seating himself next to the boy. The drunk-ish accent was as deep and as fluent as always. And he smelled like rum, just as always.

"Why did you come back? You have the whole navy looking out for you", the blacksmith asked, staring at the horizon, seemingly worrying about everything, as much as he always did.

"Well, why are _ye_ here at this hour? Someone'll think ye're goinna commandeer one of these lovely merchant vessels and turn pirate again." Will smiled, not looking at the pirate and not saying anything. He would have been fool to expect a proper answer from this man.

"And besides, shouldn't ye be with yer bonny lass? The one you'd die fer? You know, lad, usually couples-in-love do their moonlight-strolls _together_..."

"Elizabeths at her home, no doubt fast asleep like any respectful people..." the youg man started with a little sigh.

"So you don't concider us as 'respectful people'? And why is that?"

"Because we're pirates." The sentence was said firmly and with a mischievous but cute smile that could charm the birds from their trees and so on. Well, at least it seemed to work on sparrows ans the captain sharing the name of the bird felt a hell of a pack of bats flapping in his stomack and his heart skip a few beats. Smiles like that should be illegal.

"So..." he trailed lazily after getting himself together again "does this mean I don't have to keep on looking for a first mate on me Black Pearl?" There was a certain hope in the pirates voice.

"Is that why you came here?" the blacksmiths voice on the other hand held a trace of disbelief.

"Well, part of the reason._ But_. If I grab you to the Pearl with me, what'll yer girl say to that?" Jack seemed to recall the main problem just now, but, just as a certain military man had predicted, the answer was again a firm William Turner-statement straight from the heart.

"I don't care."

No matter how he had hoped for it, the blacksmiths answer shocked the pirate captain. "You- you don't care? Mate, you said you'd die fer her! You said you loved her! What's wrong with you?"

"_She's _wrong with me, it's all been wrong with me. Being a blacksmith, loving the governers daughter – it isn't my life. Now that I practically have all that life could gice, I see that I don't need it – I don't_ want_ any of it. I wan't to leave, to be the pirate I am, for as much as I've tried to hate pirates, I can't help being one myself. I want to sail away, Jack" finally Will turned to look at his surprised pirate-friend in his dark eyes, a shade of despair in his voice, "I want to be with... with _the sea_, I love... _the sea_." He turned back to stare at the horizon.

"I know exactly what you mean, luv" the captain said, his trademark-grin appearing slowly to his face when he leaned closer and whispered "I love ... _the sea_ ... too."

This time it was the blacksmith-pirate who had to struggle not to let the shiver be heard in his voice when he turned to whisper the last words that could be heard from the docks that night.

"Shall we go then, Captain?"

A few hours later Commodore Norrington was wakrn up to face the unexpected and unpredictable consequences of his master-plan of one day headstart:

"Sir! Sir, wake up! Pirates sir! _They've taken the Dauntless!"_

"What? _The Dauntless?"_

So, yes, the plan had worked, his hope was restored – and he had also learned a very useful lesson: _never try to predict a pirate in love._

_**The End.**_

**A/N2:** I would love to hear what you think, _soooo_, there's that little button that says "review"... please write something. It helps me. If you don't, I'll tell Norrington you are pirates!

And to those people who are waiting for Will's POV to the _A Pirate_-story: _It's COMING, it's COMING, I have the idea already!_ hides under the desk


End file.
